Kitten Love
by FickleArtist
Summary: Similar to puppy love but platonic. Part of my Platonic Roommate AU


When one of his roommates brought a skinny, blind kitten home one stormy night, Timmy Turner didn't expect to be left with the cat once she moved out. The only reason he didn't take it to a shelter was because his remaining roommate convinced him to let her find a home for it. That was two years ago, and they still had the cat.

A year before the kitten was brought home he received a call from his childhood friend, Tootie, asking, scratch that, begging him to let her and her older sister rent the second bedroom of his apartment for a few months. Their parents had disowned their eldest daughter years earlier and, fearing Tootie's normal moody teenage self was a sign she was turning out like her sister, they threw her out of the house as well. Vicky took her sister in and for a while the two had a relatively comfortable life; Vicky worked full time while Tootie took a part time job to help pay the bills and attended college. That is until the redhead's workplace unexpectedly closed, Tootie dropped out of school to work full time, but still the two couldn't make ends meet. Their landlord gave them 30 days to move out. So the younger sister frantically tried to find someone who'd take them in until they got back on their feet but no one was willing to let her sister stay. Her past was still fresh in everyone's memory or they simply found her too intimidating. Timmy had been her last hope. Thankfully he'd agreed.

The first few months took some adjusting for all parties, Tootie became the peacekeeper, Timmy tried to be as understanding as possible, but Vicky was having trouble giving up control. There were so many fights that the raven haired girl feared they'd be turned out of the apartment before they could save enough for another place. However the buck toothed teen wouldn't do that, no matter how pissed off he got. Soon after the two found work things became much better, mainly because the redhead worked nights while the brunette worked during the day.

Over the following months the redhead stopped letting her sister help pay rent. She made it seem like it was a matter of pride when it was really about wanting Tootie to start saving her money to return to school. The brat was smart, too smart to spend the rest of her life working some dead end job. In the most roundabout way possible, the redhead had a reputation to maintain, Vicky led her sister to a website for scholarships for some local colleges. It was about as sweet a gesture as you could get with the redhead.

Late one night Tootie went to a store down the street to get something, despite the fact that it was pouring. Looking back the brunette was fairly confident she'd seen the little black kitten earlier that day and decided to check on it once the storm got bad. Anyway she'd returned with the kitten in her arms and asked if she could keep it. Neither of her roommates minded so long as she was the one that looked after it. And for a few weeks she did, though the kitten didn't like her at all. She was always covered in scratches from the cat lashing out at her when she tried to show it affection. Her sister joked that maybe the kitten didn't like the name she'd picked out, Josie. Then out of the blue the younger girl said she'd gotten a full scholarship to a school several hours away and was packed up and gone within a week.

Confused by her sudden departure, her sister and roommate went on with their lives. First they had to decide what to do with the kitten they'd been left with. She had some bad habits that Vicky worked on in order to keep Timmy from taking her to a shelter. It took a couple months but eventually the kitten stopped lashing out, learned to trust them and friends who came over regularly, and started to curl up beside them to nap. After a month of Josie being a changed kitten she was given a new name, Psyche.

Now roughly two and a half years old, Psyche lay curled up next to the brunette, happily purring while being petted by the redhead. He'd been minding his own business, sitting on his bed answering emails, when his roommate came in holding her laptop in one arm and the cat in the other. She'd set the cat in his lap, who then proceeded to meow at him. A quick scratch behind the ears and the cat settled herself next to him on the bed. All the while Vicky was setting her laptop on the dresser, pressed play on the movie she'd chosen, and laid down on the bed. Believe it or not this was a weekly ritual. One of their friends had dubbed this ritual 'Family Time'.

Before anyone gets the wrong idea, the roommates are strictly friends. He was her best friend and she was one of his (Chester was the other). However the pair was so close many people did mistake them for a couple. Neither was interested in romantic relationships, not just with each other but with anyone, life was just easier being single.

After a while he put his computer away to lay down and watch the movie, an old 80s slasher. Within a minute of him laying down he had the cat curled up on his chest and his roommate using his stomach as a pillow. A tad annoyed at always being used as a pillow he waited for a part that he knew made her jump. Carefully moving the cat off of him, Timmy poked his roommate in the back right as the part played, resulting in a very uncharacteristic shriek escaping from the older woman.

Frightened by the sudden noise, Psyche jumped off the bed to hide under it. She knew it was safer to hide under the bed than to be on it with what was about to happen. Muffled laughter came from the younger man as his friend hit him repeatedly with a pillow.

"DAMMIT TURNER HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU NOT TO DO THAT?! YOU SCARED THE CAT!"

Yanking the pillow to hold it against his chest he smirked up at her, "sure I didn't just scare you?"

Ever since he discovered that old slasher and horror movies could make her jump, and a well timed poke could make her shriek, he'd used the knowledge to his advantage. Sometimes she had similar reactions to newer movies so if they ever watched a horror/slasher with friends, he threatened to make her scream if she wasn't nice to him or did some of his chores around the apartment. The part that amused him most was that she continued to pick these kinds of movies knowing he'd scare her if he got a chance.

"You did _not_ scare me!" a faint flush on her cheeks.

"Whatever you say."

That earned him a slap on the arm.

Several minutes later they were once again watching the movie. Vicky had her head on his shoulder, holding both of his wrists in one hand to avoid another scare, and their cat curled up between them. Soon after the climax of the movie the redhead glanced at her friend, surprised he hadn't tried something only to find that he was asleep. Rolling her eyes she continued to watch the movie, but she was tired and all the action was over.

Had anyone told her two years ago that she'd be best friends with the sleeping man beside her or that she'd still be living with him, she would have scoffed. Fighting between them could get nasty and they'd both taken some pretty cheap shots to win arguments so she figured one day she'd be kicked out. Tootie was the reason he hadn't thrown them out those first few months but since she'd left the redhead was surprised she'd been allowed to continue living there. And that she enjoyed it. Truth be told little Psyche was a big reason for them getting along so much better. She had a soft spot for animals, especially ones that were considered broken, so the two had bonded over raising her. Timmy hadn't had any pets growing up and wasn't sure what to do with the cat now that he was responsible for it. Even when he got frustrated with some of her early problems he obviously had a soft spot for her. It hadn't been unusual for her to come home to find him playing with the kitten or the two napping together.

She was happy with her life. They lived comfortably, had jobs they enjoyed, and there wasn't any major drama to deal with. One day this life would go away for one reason or another and while she hoped that day was far off, the fact that it would happen was something she accepted. Everything ended eventually but that was no reason to waste time worrying about it.

Letting herself drift off to sleep, the redhead couldn't help but chuckle at the fact that her life was as good as it was because of one kitten.


End file.
